About

Column

Joao M. Souto-Maior
Postdoctoral associate
New York University
CV

Column

Welcome to my website!

I am a postdoctoral associate in the Institute of Human Development and Social Change at the New York University. I am on the 2023-24 job market.

I study the organizational decisions of educational institutions and how they contribute to (or mitigate) the social stratification of educational opportunities, primarily across racial lines. I concentrate on the formation of unequal educational experiences within schools, looking at organization practices—such as curriculum differentiation, special education identification and school discipline—which sort students into different academic experiences, and can produce racialized organizational hierarchies. Central to my research is the use of innovative computational approaches to address questions which have imposed methodological challenges to traditional techniques.

In my dissertation (advised by L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy and with support from NYU’s agent-based modeling lab), I designed qualitatively-informed agent-based models to address questions concerning the emergence of educational inequalities—defined as access to advanced coursework—between Black and White students who attend the same school. I investigated the role of racial composition on Black students’ educational opportunities and explored how educational opportunities are hoarded within schools.

As a postdoctoral researcher, I work with Rachel Fish (NYU) and Kenneth Shores (University of Delaware) investigating methodological issues concerning the existing quantitative evidence on the disproportionate representation of Black students in special education programs.

Please navigate across the pages to learn about my research; teaching; and to access selected resources.

Areas of Research

Organizations
Education policy
Racial inequality
Computational methods

Education

Ph.D. Sociology of Education, New York University. 2023.
M.Phil. Sociology of Education, New York University. 2021.
B.A. Economics with mathematical emphasis, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2017.

Note

For research/publication purposes, I hyphenate my last name: Souto-Maior.

Research

Research agenda

My research concentrates on the design and application of innovative computational approaches to address methodologically-challenging questions related to how the organizational decisions of educational institutions contribute to (or mitigate) the social stratification of educational opportunities. This work is defined by two main areas of research, detailed below.

A complex systems approach to questions in the sociology of education (color code = )

Rethinking the analysis of bias in student sorting processes (color code = )

Papers under review

The presence of White students and the emergence of Black-White within-school inequalities: two interaction-based mechanisms.
Joao Souto-Maior (2023). arXiv preprint.
pdf

Adjusting for academic preparedness when estimating enrollment disparities in advanced high school coursework
Joao Souto-Maior & Ravi Shroff (2022). arXiv preprint.
pdf

Hoarding without hoarders: unpacking the emergence of opportunity hoarding within schools
Joao Souto-Maior (2023). arXiv preprint.
pdf

Teaching

Column

Laboratory instructor

Undergraduate basic statistics
New York University — from Spring 2019 to Spring 2021
notes syllabus S-21

Column

Teaching assistant

Introduction to US education: historical and contemporary perspectives
New York University — Fall 2022
syllabus F-22

Political economy of education: why does college cost so much?
New York University — Fall 2022
syllabus F-22

Qualitative methods in international education
New York University — Spring 2022
syllabus S-22

Column

Seminar leader

URS seminar: research, creative work and the public good
University of Wisconsin-Madison — 2016-17
syllabus F-16 syllabus S-17

URS seminar: research and creative work at the boundaries
University of Wisconsin-Madison — 2015-16
syllabus F-15 syllabus S-16

Resources

Column

PhD study

PhD dissertation
Essays on the dynamics of Black-White advanced course-taking inequalities

PhD coursework
Areas of concentration: school organization; quantitative methods.
course list

Comprehensive oral exam
reading list

Independent study: Black-White within-school achievement gaps
reading list

Column

Tools for interactive visualizations

A dashboard of inequality in Sao Paulo high schools
dashboard

Column

New books network (NBN) podcast

Host of new books in education
my episodes

  Website last updated on September 1, 2023